LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGHasked Her Majesty's Government whether the Report of the Royal Commission on Opium and its use in India was likely to be communicated to Parliament before the close of the present Session; and, if not, whether they could state the reason for the delay? He would not make a speech, having put down the question purely to obtain the information there asked. He understood—if wrongly the noble Lord the Chairman of the Commission could correct him—that the evidence having 2 been completed in India in the early spring, the Commissioners had returned home in April. He had seen no notice of evidence to be taken in this country, and as the end of the Session was approaching, and there might be difficulties in getting the members of the Commission together again, it seemed not unfair to ask whether there was any hope of their deliberations being put an end to, and of the Report being printed and circulated before the termination of the present Session of Parliament.
§ * LORD BRASSEYsaid, Lord Reay had asked him as Chairman of the Commission to reply to the question, and state why it had been found impracticable to present the Report before the close of the Session. He could assure his noble Friend that the Commission had not been idle. It was appointed in Autumn last year. Its members met in London within a few days for the purpose of taking 3 evidence. They assembled in Calcutta in November, and during 83 working days in India they held 70 sittings. To expedite the work a section only of the Commission visited Burma, while the other members continued their sittings in Calcutta. A similar arrangement was made during the tour of the Commission through the Bombay Presidency. The evidence taken was necessarily voluminous, and the printing of it and of the various important documents prepared for the use of the Commission by direction of the Government in India was attended with some difficulty. The work was commenced by the Indian Press in Calcutta, and was admirably done; but as the Commission pushed forward through the country their communications with Calcutta became more tedious, and it became necessary to change the printing operations to London. That involved some delay in the work, and the last sheets of the volumes had been in their hands only within the last month. Three volumes were printed in Calcutta and five in London. All those volumes of evidence were now before Parliament. Another cause of delay arose from communications having to be made with China and the Straits Settlements whence the transmission of replies to questions occupied some time. The Chinese evidence had been printed with the other volumes. Obviously it was impossible to complete the Draft Report until the whole of the evidence had been fully considered. The noble Lord might be assured that the draft had been proceeded with uninterruptedly. Nearly every section was now sufficiently completed for circulation to the members of the Commission, who hoped to present their Report next November.